At its March 2 meeting, the Van Buren Township Board of Trustees voted 6-1 to advertise for candidates to fill a permanent public safety director position.
Trustee Al Ostrowski cast the only no vote. He seemed to favor looking into the possibility of doing away with the public safety director position in favor of having separate fire chief and police chief.
Supervisor Paul White said he had edited the 2004 job description to bring it up to date for a 2010 search and an attorney had approved it. He estimated it would take $12,000, which has been budgeted, to conduct the search.
When asked about the wage, Supervisor White said he will not advertise the wage, but after checking with other municipalities, the estimated appropriate wage for Van Buren Township would be between $90,000 and $120,000.
Trustee Phil Hart suggested they try to get the appropriate candidate for the low end of the scale.
White pointed out that the board had indicated it wanted a national search and, “I don’t think we could get someone to pull up roots and move … into the political situation such as we have … although housing is reasonable in Michigan … I was hopeful to get someone close.”
He pointed out state law allows such an employee to live within 20 miles.
Resident John Delaney asked the board to consider tabling the motion to seek a public safety director, saying the public safety department has turned out to be a management nightmare.
He recommended separating the police department and fire department.
White said it would take several months for a study and cost analysis of the issue of public safety departments as Trustee Jeff Jahr had requested.
While Delaney thought the public safety department “moniker” had been instituted in 2006 or so, Treasurer Sharry Budd said it was instituted by Supervisor Dave Jacokes in the early 1990s.
Resident Pam Ruff read a letter from former planning commissioner George Deverich, who could not be present at the meeting. Deverich also supported elimination of the public safety director position. He said having separate fire and police departments, each headed by someone specializing in that field, would bring employees a “sense of worth.”
White said he looks at the position of public safety director basically as an administrator.
Trustee Phil Hart said he heard Novi just went to a public safety director setup and he plans to check into that information.
White said a Kalamazoo official recommended Van Buren Township not stay with a public safety department.
Resident Sandra Croswell said she liked the police chief and fire chief positions separately.
Trustee Ostrowski asked how long it would take to do the study that Trustee Jahr suggested and White said it would take about 6-9 months and “wouldn’t be cheap, either.”
He said the study would look into how it affects service to residents, first, and then into a cost analysis.
“Public safety has been this board’s priority,” Supervisor White emphasized.
Trustee Jahr made a motion, seconded by Trustee Denise Partridge to approve the job description and authorize the supervisor to advertise for the position.
Last July, the board voted 4-3 to appoint Carl McClanahan as interim public safety director to fill the vacant position left by Jerry Champagne, who was fired.
McClanahan wasn’t sworn in until December and his at-will position is not to exceed nine months. He is paid $89,000 annual salary, pro-rated.
Supervisor White said the process of obtaining proposals from firms that specialize in public safety job analysis and assessment of candidates is ongoing.
In other business at its March 2 meeting, the board:
* Approved revocation of the Industrial Facilities Exemption Certificate for Ricardo, Inc., because the company, based in the United Kingdom, was unable to invest the $14.2 million into a new facility by a deadline, as promised. VBT had granted a 50% tax abatement for 12 years on Aug. 18, 2008, with a deadline of Dec. 30, 2009 for completion. When the economy improves, Ricardo intends to come back to the township. VBT is the North American headquarters for Ricardo. “This is one of the finest companies in the world. They will be back and move forward,” said Trustee Hart;
* Agreed to “postpone indefinitely” consideration of the Articles of Incorporation for a Downriver Sewer Utility Authority, and removed it from the agenda. There were 13 members of the downriver system considering forming the authority. Lincoln Park has declined to join. Allen Park, Wyandotte, and Riverview, approved the authority, were leading the charge to take over the system. Belleville approved the articles of incorporation at its March 1 meeting;
* Approved the supervisor’s reappointments to the Downtown Development Authority with terms to expire March 9, 2014: Ronald Blank, Robert Bechtel, and Jere Dolph. DDA Executive Director Susan Ireland praised the DDA members, referring to Dolph as “one of the original founding fathers” of the VBT DDA; Blank as the owner of eight manufactured home communities, with two in VBT, and also new chairman of the Michigan Manufactured Housing Commission; and Bechtel as owner of a successful business in the township, who also teaches college business classes;
* Heard Treasurer Sharry Budd announce that the winter taxes have been collected with a 92% collection rate. She thanked those working in her office;
* Heard Diane Madigan, a member of the Public Safety Committee, state she sent an email to Fire Chief Darwin Loyer after he mentioned a hiring list for fire fighters. She said this is an opportunity to hire additional fire fighters who are under-employed in this bad economic climate. She asked how they are seeking recruits, noting she hopes it is not a list of police officers who will “tax us with blended rates”;
* Heard resident Ed Seyfried ask for help with making Walmart fulfill its promise of a footpath that is on the site plan for the Super Walmart expansion and hasn’t been built. “This path was shoved down our throat,” he recalled. He said when he saw all the people at the meetings before the recall election, he thought their energies might be harnessed to help his neighborhood with Walmart. He asked people to boycott the Belleville Walmart store until all the issues are completed. Supervisor White said Building and Planning Director Dan Swallow is working diligently on the problem. “They haven’t slammed the door in my face,” Swallow said of Walmart. “Having pedestrian access makes good sense … the last dangling issue needs to be resolved;
* Heard resident CeeJay Marshall apologize publicly to Mac Black for an incident at a previous meeting, noting he had already apologized to Black in person. Marshall said he won’t apologize for trying to recall board members, “but I will always respect you as a board.” He said they “have 2½ years to make it right and we’ll know in 2½ years”;
* Heard resident Mac Black say during the incident Marshall referred to, he mouthed back to Marshall and “If I would have just shut up, he would have been out the door and gone. But we can’t seem to do that.” The two shook hands; and
* Adjourned the meeting at 8:26 p.m.